Three from Ottawa area added to Order of Canada
Three people from the national capital region are among the nearly 100 new members of the Order of Canada announced Wednesday.
Scientist Kenneth MacClure Baird and humanitarian worker Tetsuo Theodore Itani, of Ottawa, and journalist Pierre Bergeron, of Gatineau, have been appointed as members.
Rideau Hall released the list of new appointees on Canada Day.
Baird’s extensive research has made him one of North America’s leading “metrologists,” with more than 50 published scientific papers and five patents.
One of his most notable contributions was directing Canada’s redefinition of the international metre as its unit of measurement, from the prototype metal bar in use since 1889 to the new wavelength of light developed as the base measurement in 1960. He also maintained Canada’s primary standard of mass and its derivatives, such as density and pressure.
He was a member of the International Advisory Committee for the Definition of the Meter, serving as chairman of its steering committee for the redefinition of the meter in 1982. Baird worked with the National Research Council for more than 30 years until his retirement in 1982.
Itani has worked as a researcher and humanitarian adviser for the Pearson Centre, a former nonprofit mandated to support Canada’s contribution to international peacekeeping, from 1996 until waning federal government funding forced its closure in 2013.
He has volunteered for the Canadian Red Cross since 2004, working on matters of international humanitarian law. He also headed earthquake relief and recovery operations in Pakistan in 2005-06 and in 2008-09.
Bergeron, from Gatineau, is a journalist who has filled various editorial positions at Le Droit since 1975, including serving as its editor from 1993 to 2002. He also worked for newspapers in Montreal and Saguenay, Que., in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
Other notable members added to the Order of Canada this year include Douglas Fregin, the man who co-founded Research in Motion with Mike Lazaridis, along with Lazaridis’s wife Ophelia, for her philanthropic work around Waterloo, Ont., where BlackBerry is based.
Author Lawrence Hill will be recognized for his writing to tell the stories of Canada’s black community, notably through the critically acclaimed Book of Negroes, and advocacy work on behalf of women and girls in Africa.
Oscar-nominated and Gemini award-winning actor Graham Greene is a familiar face in films, television shows, and theatre productions in Canada and overseas. The First Nations actor is being honoured for “achievements as a pioneering and versatile actor,” which included a 1991 Academy Award best supporting actor nomination for his role in the film Dances with Wolves.
Also being honoured are TV-Ontario CEO Lisa de Wilde for “transformative leadership” at the provincial public broadcaster, and Télé- Québec counterpart Michèle Fortin for her “contributions to the vitality of French-language and educational television.”
The Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honours, was established in 1967 to recognize outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. More than 6,000 people with diverse backgrounds have been invested in the order over the last 45 years.